Former President Donald Trump is set to make an appearance in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon. He has been indicted on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump is facing four federal charges, all felonies, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The former president is expected to travel from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. for his arrest and arraignment as ordered by the court.
This marks the second federal indictment that Trump faces as part of Smith’s investigation. Previously, he pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency.
The indictment accuses Trump of spreading false claims about election fraud for over two months after the November 3, 2020 election, despite knowing they were untrue. It alleges that he conspired with others to defraud the United States by using dishonesty and deceit to undermine the legitimate functions of the federal government related to the presidential election results.
“The Defendant, Donald J. Trump, was the forty-fifth President of the United States and a candidate for re-election in 2020. The Defendant lost the 2020 presidential election,” the indictment states. “Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power.”
“For more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, Trump spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.” It lists various claims that Trump’s team made during post-election state challenges in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election,” the indictment reads.
It further alleges that Trump, between Nov. 14, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to defraud the United States by using dishonest, fraud and deceit to impair, obstruct and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government.”
In response to the charges, a Trump campaign spokesperson accused the Biden administration of interfering with the 2024 Presidential Election and compared the investigations to authoritarian regimes.
Trump had previously announced receiving a target letter from the Justice Department, and Smith’s investigation aimed to determine if there was interference in the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
On January 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College results, leading to articles of impeachment against Trump.
Additionally, Trump faces 34 counts in New York related to alleged falsification of business records tied to hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are also wrapping up their criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
